When the speed is zero
by imaginarypaths
Summary: A godfather, a godson, and a swing. Multiplied by two.


**When the speed is zero**

.

Going to the playground at night was always Sirius's favorite thing, ever since he was a kid and thought he liked it just because it was a Muggle device and pissed his mother off.

Growing up, he discovered that the contribution of Walburga's disappointment to the pleasure was minimum and fortunately, negligible.

After graduating, he discovered there was that moment, in summer, at 11 pm, when there are only two kinds of people around; grandparents trying to convince their grandchildren that it's time to go to bed, and young people seeking for fun. _That_ quickly became his favorite moment of all; he felt completely and truly free. He could enjoy some careless childhood he had been deprived off and project himself towards the adulthood.

Some splinter of madness—or stroke of genius—always got him when he was there, standing in the middle of the playground and pondering on his life, and it invited him to ride on the swing that seemed to fluctuate in the breeze calling for him.

He would look around—some little, more childish part of him still feared the judge of the others—then he would start running towards the swingset, hoping none would get there, to his old companion of nightly adventures, before him.

Once he managed to fill the gap between before and then, and he found himself finally there where he felt he belonged, it didn't matter anymore who he was; a child, an adult, a Black, a Blood-traitor, a Marauder, a dog.

Everything faded into the air as he just made his legs go forward and back, forward and back, letting Sirius get higher and higher until he thought he could fly, his eyes focused on his aim, the skyline.

The squeak in the chains of the swing matched his laugh as the blazing speed took him, filled him, being more intoxicating than old Firewhiskey itself.

:::

"They say _life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom_ ," Sirius told his godson once they were together in Grimmauld Place. "Don't believe them. Life does swing, and it's true that it brings you up only to make you fall and possibly crash. If you don't hold tightly, you may not be able to raise yourself. It's terrible to feel yourself on the ground. First you were going forward and up, and a moment later you're falling, unwillingly, as the dirty ground comes towards you at high speed. But without even thinking, you're already struggling to go forward, you need to go up, and you suddenly do." Sirius stopped to caress Harry's head. "Look at me, Harry. The true hero is the one who despite being betrayed by the swing, never gives up. He may lose speed but he keeps trying, with all his strength, for the hardest you kick your legs up, the highest you'll be going."

:::

Sirius never told Harry why he was so sure of this, just like he never told Harry the source of his other words of wisdom that he sometimes was able to fight his demons enough to give.

Harry never asked, but when his life stopped swinging that fast, he got enough time to reflect and remembered something else about his godfather's life.

" _My mother did that after I ran away."_

Sirius' life had indeed been a pendulum between pain and disappointment, but when the time had been right, he had reached the top.

That suddenly shed light on Sirius's words, so much that Harry could repeat them to reassure his own fifteen-year-old godson without sounding like a useless, cold parrot.

"Remember how much you like riding a swing? That moment, that brief, precious moment when you're at the top? You're lucky if you manage to think, _Wow, that's cool_ , before falling back again. When the speed is zero, that's the moment when you life is full."

Harry led Teddy towards the swingset.

* * *

 **A/N I hope you enjoyed :)**

 **Written for the Golden Snitch forum for the daily prompt: (word) swing. WC: 649**

 **Just a quick note (that you may or may not already know, but just in case :p)... The velocity (speed) is zero when the pendulum/swing is changing direction – that's the equilibrium point.**

 _ **Disclaimer: J K Rowling owns the Harry Potter universe and its characters. The line 'L**_ ** _ife_** _ **swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom," belongs to Schopenhauer.**_


End file.
